


The Love Letter

by RobinVenetiaa



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith, Strike (TV 2017)
Genre: Cormoran Strike Loves Robin Ellacott, F/M, Fluff, Love Letters, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29973540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinVenetiaa/pseuds/RobinVenetiaa
Summary: Nobody writes love letters anymore.
Relationships: Robin Ellacott & Cormoran Strike, Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 87
Kudos: 92





	1. Chapter 1

Robin swivels on her stool at the bar as they sip from their drinks when she lets out a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Cormoran wonders, nudging her gently with his elbow.

“I was just remembering the first time I was at this bar with you.” She answers, a mischievous grin still lingering. He frowns, trying to recall exactly which night she’s referring to.

“You may not remember, you were  _ pretty _ pissed.” She teases.

“Ahh, that night. I don’t remember much.” He admits, leaving out how he  _ does _ remember his spirits lifting when he saw her enter the pub.

“You were funny.” 

“Was I? How badly did I embarrass myself?” He asks, curious about that night she came looking for him but bracing himself for tales of his drunken foolishness.

“You didn’t really.” Robin answers after taking a sip of her wine. She pauses, trying to recall all his rambling from that night. “You ranted about digitalization.”

He huffs out a relieved laugh. “Load o’ bollocks.”

“You like having your groceries delivered now though.” She reminds him.

“What’d I say then?” 

“You called them ‘lazy fuckers’, if I recall correctly.”

“What else?”

“Love letters.” She replies quickly before taking another sip.

“ _Love_ _letters_?” He struggles to remember what he could have said but all he recalls from that night was the kindness in her expression as she helped him home.

“You said no one writes them anyone.”

“They don’t. Shame, really.”

“I’ve never gotten a love letter.” Robin admits.

“Really?  _ Never _ . He never? Not even once?” He’s become indignant on her behalf, baffled that no one took that time for her. “Not even some little tosser passing you a note in class?”

“Nope.” She adds a dramatic pop to the ‘p’ while slowly swiveling her stool to and fro.

“Huh.”

“What?”

“I just would have thought you have a whole box of them.”

“Why would you think that?” She snorts before taking another sip of her wine.

_ Because you’re Robin. You’re so easy to love. _

He’s staring at her, his eyebrows knit tightly together as the past five years come to a head in an instant and hit him square in the chest. It’s decided in that moment that this is it for him, it’s her.

_ Only her _ .

The realization that he loves Robin isn’t new. It’s a feeling he’s become familiar with over the past few years of knowing her but the depths that his love goes continues to awe him, like it’s burrowed deep into his heart. This latest revelation is different still, like his destiny has locked in place and can never be shifted. He was meant to love Robin and he sits in front of her honored to do so. He’s so lost in his newly discovered kismet that he doesn’t hear her question.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you wanted another.” She motions to his empty pint. “But kinda seems like you’ve had enough.”

He grins at her, feeling almost giddy as he watches her blush then smile back at him before sticking her tongue out, playful and teasing and god, he adores her.

“Come on. Walk me to the tube.” She says as she stands and begins putting on her coat.

“Anything you want.” He replies as he holds out an arm for her to take and they head out into the night.

——————-

The letter for Robin sat in Strike’s back pocket as the office wound down for the weekend. He sent Pat home early, insisting he’d tidy up the front office even as she eyed him up and down in disbelief. Eventually, she relented and took off quickly to start her weekend before he could change his mind.

If Pat was suspicious, he supposed she had every right to be but he needed her out of the office before Robin ventured home for the weekend. After days of agonizing and several drafts, he had finally finished his confession in the form of a love letter.

All that was left was to give it to her.

He had thought about mailing it but he was certain once he dropped the letter in the post box that he would spend the days losing his mind wondering if it had even arrived. 

He also debated slipping it under her door but the risk of running into her or even her roommate, Max, as he tried to stealthily slip away seemed too great.

In the end, he opted to slip it into her bag on a Friday just before she heads home for the weekend. He had lied to her about Shanker needing to see him to explain why he couldn’t head out to the pub like they usually do to cap off the week. She seems disappointed but he promised her they’d get curry on him before the pub next time and she perked back up, offering her hand to shake on the agreement.

He can hear her phone call end in their shared office and peers through the open door to see her pack up her bag. Sucking in a deep breath, he steps through the doorway to put his plan in action.

“Heading out?” He aims for casual but doesn’t feel too convincing as he heads to his desk.

“Yeah, Max and I are gonna have a movie night. He was excited for us to actually be home on the same evening for once.” She swivels her chair towards him. “You off to meet Shanker then?”

“In a bit. Actually, could you do me a favor before you take off?”

“‘Course. What’s up?” She says it so eagerly he feels guilty for the deception and using her kindness to trick her.

“Would you pop up to the flat and grab the bag I left by the door? Bastard leg is aching.” He adds a wince for a little flourish.

“Sure thing. Back in a mo.”

As soon as he hears her steps up to his flat he pulls the letter from his pocket and slips it in her bag, tucked behind her laptop before sitting back at his desk.

He’s barely seated when she’s already on the way back down with the tote containing whatever he could find laying around his flat. He just needed an excuse to get her out of the room while he deposited the letter.

She sets the tote down on his desk and smiles when he gives her his thanks before fetching her own bag and putting it over her shoulder.

“Have fun with Max.” He calls as she heads for the door.

“Don’t get in too much trouble with Shanker.” She teases with a wink before she walks out with his future in her bag.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to have it done today but that didn't happen so I divided up the second chapter into two so you can read his letter. I should have the rest done this weekend. Enjoy!

Robin is only a block away from Denmark Street when the strap on her bag snaps, sending it and it’s contents tumbling to the ground.

A friendly stranger stops to help her gather the spilled contents before continuing on their way and Robin awkwardly carries her belongings into a cafe to sort it all out.

She examines her laptop first which seems miraculously unscathed and breathes a sigh of relief. Robin checks off items on a mental list, hopeful nothing was lost but thankfully her keys, wallet and her notebook are all accounted for. The only other items she finds left in the bag are some pens, a memory card and a letter.

She’s about to stuff the letter back in with the rest when she notices the writing on the front. Written in Cormoran’s familiar, messy scrawl is her name. She stares at it, confused over how or when it got in there to begin with but feels impossibly curious at what it could contain.

The last time Cormoran had given her a note plays in her mind, the memory of him gifting her a surveillance course and asking her to be his partner feels like it happened a hundred years ago but still makes her heart soar.

This feels different though. 

It’s not a quick note scribbled on scrap office paper. The envelope looks expensive with elegant golden swirls embossed on the corners. As delicately as she can, she opens the flap of the envelope and carefully pulls out it’s contents.

Inside is a piece of paper with matching gold details filled with Cormoran’s distinct penmanship looking the neatest she’s ever seen fills the page. She takes a deep breath and sits back in her seat to read his letter.

——-

_ To my dearest Robin, _

_ You told me once that you’d never received a love letter before and to me, that is a great injustice. How can anyone in your orbit not spend their days cataloging every wondrous part of you? Every minute of every day could be taken up observing what makes you so divine and no one could finish with only a single lifetime. _

_ Then I realized I was just as guilty because even though my thoughts are made up of only you, I’ve never told you. Even now as I write this, my hand shakes. _

_ I am afraid. _

_ And I am completely in love with you. _

_ My heart belongs to you and you alone, for the rest of my days. You hold it in your hands as you read this and while I’m sorry to burden you with it, you are the only one I could ever trust with it. _

_ You could destroy me. You could rip my heart into pieces and leave me to decay, alone and broken. _

_ But you’re Robin and I know you would never hurt me even if you don’t reciprocate. _

_ If you read this and don’t feel the same, that’s okay. I swear to you, it is. Never mention it and I promise you I will do the same. We can go on just as we have been these past five years, as work partners and friends. That alone is more than I could ever deserve. _

_ And if you, by some miracle, feel a fraction for me that I feel for you then I am the luckiest man on this earth.  _

_ I understand if you need time or space. I understand if you never want to see me again. I understand if you don’t feel the same but I hope… _

_ Love Always, _

_ Cormoran Strike xx _


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay but I write slow. Also... uh... hope it's not anticlimactic 🤞

Cormoran exhales a cloud of smoke before stamping out the end of his cigarette in the old ashtray on his desk. He should go upstairs and turn on the telly, distract himself from the uncertainty looming all around him. He had run through every negative scenario he could imagine. 

Robin storming in on Monday morning and yelling at him, calling him a creep and walking away from their partnership.

Another one where she simply disappeared, never coming back to the office and when he goes to her flat to find her she’s gone, as though she was never there.

There were others, where he didn’t lose her as a work partner or friend but he stood on the sideline watching her fall in love with someone else, get married and have children she adores. He could even love them, he thinks, if they were part of her, even as his heart aches.

For a brief moment, he lets himself hope.

It’s not dramatic or fantastical. He imagines her coming in a few minutes early on Monday to find him at his desk then leans down to kiss him. It’s sweet and soft and over before he can process what’s happening but she’s smiling as she looks down at him, glowing with happiness.

Before he can continue his fantasy, he hears someone coming up the stairs, quickly at first then slower as they reach the office level. He gets up from from his desk to see who would be coming in at this time.

He’s in the middle of the room when Robin comes through the door to their office with her bag under her arm, cheeks flushed and her hair a little disheveled like she’d been running. He hurries to her side in an instant, concerned. He had thought she’d nearly be arriving home right about now. “What happened? Are you okay?”

She’s staring at him, unblinking at first but then she seems to catch herself and puts her bag down against her desk. “The strap broke.” She says matter-of-factly.

“Oh. Okay?”

“Everything fell out.” She explains, watching him carefully.

“O-okay.”

“Including this.” She pulls out the envelope from her coat pocket where it was tucked snug against her heart. His own heart is pounding against his chest and he hadn’t expected this. He hadn’t, in any scenario he imagined, expected she’d find it so quickly. In his imagination, she was always at home, snug and warm and only happens upon it during her lazy sunday afternoon when she was unable to resist the urge to check in on work.

“Cormoran…” She looks up at him, eyes shining brightly even as the evening light dims. “How long?”

“Have I loved you?” Her breath catches at his words but she carries on with a nod.

“I think the moment I crashed into you. It started small, this little fraction of it was yours in an instant. Every day after that it grew until...” He tentatively takes her hand and places her palm over his heart, holding it there under his. “I go to bed at night thinking I couldn’t possibly love you anymore than I already do but then I wake up and I’ve fallen even deeper.”

“The business…” The corner of his mouth turns up as he recognizes that she’s doing the same calculations he’s struggled with a thousand times, all the reasons they shouldn’t.

“Will be fine.”

“How do you know?” Robin seems startled by his confidence but he stays calm, ready to show her his conclusions.

“‘Cause I’ve spent the better part of the past five years thinking about the same thing, weighing the pros and cons.” Her fingers flex against his chest but she doesn’t pull away. “It was easy once I realised…”

“Realised what?”

He takes a deep breath, readying himself for what comes next. “That I care more about you than the business.”

“Cormoran, you don’-”

“I do.” He presses his forehead against hers as he cuts off her denials. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t be devastated but if I had to choose… it’s so easy. It’s you. It’s always you.”

It’s the truth and he recalls the moment he realised he’d give her anything,  _ give up _ anything, if it meant he could be with her like he’d dreamed of for years now. It shocked him but as he sat with his revelation, he also understood how it’d been true far longer than he first grasped.

He couldn’t afford her back when she first started but he asked her to stay, ready to sacrifice his own comfort to keep her. He made her his partner, paying what little money the business had for her surveillance course despite knowing her fiance would continue to be a spectre over their work together. And his motivation for finding the Shacklewell Ripper, was fueled just as much by a intense need to keep her safe as much as solving the case and clearing his name.

He starts to pull away, afraid that he had overwhelmed her or even worse, that she didn’t feel the same but she grabs onto his shirt and keeps him close. They’re still nose to nose and he only needs to tilt his head to capture her lips with his own but he waits, ready to give her all the time she needs.

“I-I don’t know when I fell in love with you…” She whispers like she’s sharing a secret with him and it occurs to him that it is just like he had hid his own love for her. “...but every time I thought back to my wedding, the only happy memory was turning to see you as I stood at the altar.”

“But you are… you feel the same?” He’s breathless, wondering if he heard her right.

Robin huffs out a laugh and affectionately bumps her nose against his. “Yes, you idiot. I’m in love with you.”

He cups her face in hands, gently caressing her rosy cheek with his thumb. This had been his dream for so long that his mind can barely process the reality of her in his arms, loving him. “Ok. I’m going to kiss yo-”

But she cuts him off with the press of her lips against his own and he swears he falls even more in love with her.

  
  



End file.
